


Try Guys Try Tiny Tailoring

by raven_aorla



Category: Buzzfeed The Try Guys (Web Series), Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Curses, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Jen Because I Love Her, Unrealistic Handicrafting Speeds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 08:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18465154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_aorla/pseuds/raven_aorla
Summary: The reason Jen is helping the Try Guys shoot this video about making doll clothes is absolutely not that Ryan and Shane have shrunk down to a tiny size due to some kind of spookiness and are dependent on a few Buzzfeed coworkers for now. That would be ridiculous. Not that she knows much about sewing herself, but she knows a gal.





	Try Guys Try Tiny Tailoring

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Little Trouble](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15711606) by [Ghoulboyboos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghoulboyboos/pseuds/Ghoulboyboos). 



> The story by Ghoulboyboos that this is inspired by is far more dramatic, romantic, and generally moving. I urge you to check it out if you haven't already. Unlike its parent, this is not designed as a shipping fic, but you can decide whether or not anything is going on that Jen doesn't know about.
> 
> Disclaimer: I know almost nothing about dressmaking or the like, regardless of dimensions, though I'm a good freehand crocheter and can do some simple embroidery. Please go with Rule of Funny here.

“Today the Try Guys are going to learn how to make doll clothes,” Keith announces, waving an off-brand plastic action figure that won’t get them into copyright trouble. “I never played with what people around me called dolls growing up, but there were toy soldiers in the Hasenberger home that were the same size and about as posable, you know, same difference, right? Don’t @ me.”

Jen gestures for Keith to lean a little further to the right for better framing. Adam might be better at this than her, but the Worth It boys are busy with their hastily arranged trip to New Orleans, supposedly to sample the local cuisine _at three radically different price points_. Supposedly. 

She's got more than enough enough camerawork chops to see this through.

“I didn’t have my own dolls growing up, but my sisters used to ambush me and dress me up, does that count?” Eugene asks, raising an eyebrow.

“And you were like, ‘Oh nooooo, anything but that, anything! I hate looking fabulous in all conceivable clothing!’” Zach flails a bit for emphasis, yet again acting like the least heteronormative covert-girlfriend-haver in the history of that obscure category. Eugene just smirks. Jen can hear the cries of newborn fanfics the moment this episode goes out.

Anyway, Ladylike is on hiatus and the Try Guys need supervision by...uh...okay, Jen doesn’t consider herself more responsible or level-headed than they are. But she does provide outside perspective. She’s also the one who recently started chatting with a cute gal who customizes Barbies and Kens as an Etsy-based side gig. They met on a women-only dating app shortly before _the incident_ , true, but they haven’t actually been on a date let alone been getting it on or anything. Potential mild HR violations when it comes to casting guest experts are the least of everyone’s worries right now.

Akansha showed up crazy-prepared with two sewing machines and a sack of fabric scraps among her arsenal. She wears all black and many rings, has a pixie cut with blue highlights, needs glasses while sewing, and hasn’t seen any Try Guys videos. Said she wanted to come in “unbiased” and is now concealing her reaction to them very well. She didn’t believe Jen when told that Ned would bring up his wife very early on with no prompting and on the flimsiest of segues, and she manages to keep a neutral face when he says, “My wife and I are planning on having kids, and we believe they should be able to play with any toys regardless of gender.”

Things proceed in the way of a lowkey (by their standards) Try Guys shoot. Akansha introduces herself and talks a little bit about the whole doll-customization subculture and how she got into it, the guys crack jokes about it and banter with each other, she shows them some cute outfits she’s made, they ooh and ahh at her work and banter with each other. She becomes less polished and neutral as the shoot progresses and starts to have fun with it. Eugene pauses and adjusts things periodically because he’s doubling as director. They’ve agreed only to learn how to sew two items each rather than all trying to do full outfits, in the interest of their time and Akansha’s sanity. 

(Not that sanity has been in major supply since the fateful day when Jen crashed an informal Worth It/Try Guys/Unsolved office lunch where they were discussing a potential triple crossover. She’d only wanted to float an idea that would have resulted in both Shane and Keith on skateboards and would have crushed the Internet by visuals alone.)

Everyone except Eugene announces they’re going to do boy clothes. Eugene wants to do a little orange cheerleader dress that is, like, four times more complicated than anything anyone else is attempting. He also wants to make two sets of underwear.

“Are those meant for the same person?” Ned asks. His eyes widen. “Uh, I mean, doll?”

“They can share if they feel like it,” Eugene says, serenely tracing out a pattern. They can’t do a retake of Ned’s flub without it being more obvious to Akansha that something’s up other than Ned being awkward, but someone can edit it out if needed.

Zach hurts his thumb, then almost immediately hurts his pinkie, and the first shirt he makes is a misshapen mess. A debate breaks out over whether floral print fabric alone can qualify a shirt as “Hawaiian”. Or if good intentions alone can qualify a “shirt” as a shirt. With some pointers, he then produces an okayish plain green tee. He draws a cup of green tea on it in marker. Only Keith laughs. 

Keith makes two pairs of pants, once a lot longer than the other. He gets frustrated trying to sew on button flies with his big fingers until Akansha persuades him to hand them over. Otherwise they look pretty good. 

Ned makes a so-so pullover and writes GO JAGUARS on it while cackling. After that he’s very low on time and makes a cape. Everyone good-naturedly teases him for picking the laziest wardrobe item possible. At least the cape ends up hemmed and with a clasp. 

Eugene finishes the dress and the two sets of turquoise briefs. He starts making a necktie, but Ned (sweating over the cape) comedically yells at him to stop being such a goddamn show-off and go help with sound or something. 

They wrestle their creations onto dolls and Akansha gives her opinions on how they did, refusing to name a clear winner. Then it’s a wrap, and as far as Akansha knows, that’s the end of it other than post-production. Jen might meet up with her for coffee or something one day, but right now there is a bigger thing to deal with. A bigger, smaller thing.

There was no warning before it happened. One moment Ryan and Shane were eating and chatting with everyone else, and all of a sudden it was Honey I Shrunk the Youtubers. Once Ryan got over his first shock, he started shouting at Shane for baiting the ghouls at their most recent location and welcoming them to ruin their lives however they wanted. His voice was a lot squeakier when that small and Shane didn’t help Ryan’s freakout by giggling hysterically. Andrew and Steven had each grabbed one of them and held them until they calmed down.

Everyone’s doing what they can to cover up Shane and Ryan’s absence and keep people not in the know from intruding on the Buzzfeed Unsolved set, where they have been staying ever since being carried away from the employee lounge. Despite the risks, it’s easier for the whole gang to take care of them there. The real reason the Worth It trio went to New Orleans is to consult with experts they’ve gotten in touch with there. Real voodoo, apparently, isn’t so much focused on cursing people, but it is about interacting with spirits in a more cooperative sorta way than Shane does. 

Beyond their basic needs, their friends have been trying to keep them feeling comfortable and chill under uncomfortable un-chill circumstances. They’ve now got a fancy haunted (to justify the purchase later) dollhouse to stay in. People make an effort to provide them with a few fresh popcorn kernels when they sit down to watch Netflix on a phone screen. Little things.

“You’ve been complaining about having to choose between wearing the clothes you shrank in and having to wear stiff, itchy, poorly-fitting doll clothes,” Ned says when everyone is gathered around the desk and Shane and Ryan have emerged from their home. The Try Guys are hiding their creations behind their back, which they whip out when they all whisper-yell “surprise!” Being tiny has made the pair more sensitive to loud noises.

“We worked the system so we could get paid to supply you with _soft and cozy_ poorly-fitting doll clothes.” Zach offers the green shirt to Ryan, who takes it like it’s a golden fleece.

“This is so sweet of you,” Ryan says, holding it against his chest to see how well it matches his current dimensions. He sounds genuinely choked up.

“All of you, thank you. This was really nice…” Shane stops. “Except Eugene, who is an asshole.”

“Just trying to remind you of happier times,” Eugene says, gently tossing the cheerleader dress in Shane’s direction. Shane being punished for skipping out on too many CrossFit sessions during a Test Friends project was a happy time for many people. Jen is very sure Shane didn't totally hate the outfit he had to wear during the remedial workout. He catches Eugene’s version quickly enough. 

“If you’re okay with it,” Jen says, bending a little at the waist so she’s at eye level with her dudes (so weird to be the one doing that), “we could vlog you doing a fashion show with your new clothes, and your review of the new clothes. Share it on April Fools Day as a sequel to the main video.”

“What if we’re not better by then?” Ryan asks, now hugging the shirt, probably without realizing it. Shane puts an arm around his shoulders and he relaxes a fraction.

Keith also does the bending thing, though he has to go a lot further. “I’m as confident that you’ll be better by then as I am confident that the dress is the only thing that will fit Shane properly. Shane is weirdly built and none of us really knew what we were doing, but Eugene made it and Eugene is Eugene. Plus the Worth It guys know a lot more than we do about traveling around, finding out about people who can do improbable things with exotic ingredients. It’s gonna be okay.”

*

Fun fact: Keith turns out to be right. And when the April Fool’s day doll fashion show vlog goes viral, the Try Guys talk up how much of it was Jen's idea and production. People pester Jen to ask how she did it and she gives several different ridiculous answers. Shane gives her the piggy-back ride he says he owes her and it's awesome.

(The whole Akansha thing doesn’t end up going anywhere, but hey, no big deal. _Badum tish._ )

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone loved the cheerleader outfit irl, come on now.


End file.
